A telephony or content-distribution services operating over a cabled network with cable modems, for example, a cable operator, renders services to subscribers. Subscribers hire services from the cable operator including, but not limited to, broadband Internet access and IP (Internet Protocol) telephony. The subscribers may connect to a private network (hereafter “the network”) to consume these services, where the network may be owned, partially owned or rented by the cable operator. Subscribers may connect their computers, routers, IP telephones, tablets, cell phones, and possibly other devices to the network through network terminals, called cable modems.
The cable operator may impose restrictions to the service it provides in different offered subscription plans, for example, through Terms of Service agreements. Some subscribers or non-subscribers may attempt to violate these restrictions in order to get an advantage and, for example, get subscription services without paying for these or get services not included in their subscription plan. The cable operator is incentivized to detect and prevent fraud while at the same time ensuring that such fraud detection and prevention does not impact its legitimate subscribers.
Fraud against a cable operator may take various forms. For example, a fraudster may modify the firmware of a cable modem to mimic the cable modem used by a subscriber thus attempting to get the services paid by this subscriber for free. For another example, a subscriber having two homes may pay for cable services on one home where roaming (moving the cable modem to a second home) is not allowed. The subscriber may move the cable modem (provided by the cable operator) to a second home where there is a physical connection and in an attempt to get unpaid access. As another example, a fraudster may attempt to get “faster” (higher bandwidth) internet access by tampering with the configuration of a cable modem, or alter the firmware in any other form to get some advantage. Or a fraudster may modify a cable modem to prevent it from receiving messages from the Cable modem Termination System (CMTS), and thus answer to Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps which could lead to detecting fraud or updating its firmware. Other types of fraud are also possible.
Fraud management is a complex part of the business for a cable operator. Fraud management consists of actions that lead to detecting fraud, and the policies used to decide what to do in case of a detected fraud. Fraud management deals with detection and prevention of fraud and without causing a perceptible impact to paying subscribers. Therefore, there is a need in the industry to address one or more of the abovementioned issues.